News

No time for a cuddle ... it’s science

Studies confirm men’s brains demand sleep after sex

I
t is the excuse men have been looking for. Scientists have discovered that men simply cannot help falling asleep after having sex — because their brains are pre-programmed to switch off.

They have used advanced brain-scanning techniques to watch what happens in men’s brains during and after they have an orgasm.

They saw how, during orgasm itself, almost the entire cerebral cortex, the “thinking” part of the brain, simply shut down. Then, immediately afterwards, two other parts of the brain, the temporal cortex and amygdala, sent a message to the rest of the brain to deactivate all further sexual desire.

All this was accompanied by a surge of brain chemicals such as oxytocin and dopamine. These act like opiates, numbing the brain and inducing a powerful surge of sleepiness.

The deactivation of all sexual desire, said Dr Serge Stoléru, the French government scientist behind the research, was hard for any man